Isaiah - Verse By Verse

Walking through Ephesians - Day 54

versebyverse | December 19, 2007 19:12

Thought:  To me, "the administration of this mystery" is an unparalleled unfolding of the gospel and all its effects upon the world.  The gospel has made an enormous impact on our planet!

Question:  Do I participate in some way to help "make plain" the gospel to people?

Scripture:  Ephesians 3:9 (NIV):  "and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things."

Paul's message is not merely that Christ came to save sinners but also that God's intent was to draw the alienated nations (Jew and Gentile) back together.  God's gospel heals more than one problem, that is, the sin problem.  It also heals rifted nations, lifts abused women, brings dignity to slaves and allows a child to know the way to Heaven along with his parents.  The healing powers of the gospel, to unite into oneness various rended people, is the mystery Paul will teach.  Paul will "make plain" these truths.  Paul stands at the edge of a great historical change:  the sweeping effect of the gospel upon the known world.  The gospel had been hidden in many ways; now it was exploding widely, and all out of Paul's hand--Paul, "missionarty to the Gentiles."

The mystery was "kept hidden in God "in several ways.  How all prophecies could be answered in one man, Christ Jesus, was a mystery to Scripture students.  So many prophecies seemed to contradict each other:  how could one born in Bethlehem also be a Nazarene and come forth at one point out of Egypt?  The person of the Messiah was "kept hidden in God", in God's knowledge, in this way.  Another hiddenness, no doubt, lay in Judaism's failure to include Calvary in the experiences of their Messiah.  This crucifixion added much to the mysteriousness of the Messiah in Jewish thinking.  But because of the resurrection, Paul will be able to reveal the mystery of Christ's death to them.  Yet the resurrection itself is full of mystery.  How could this be?  But "hidden in God" is the surety of life, even life out of death, or from within death, and Paul himself is a prime example of drastic reversal from a way of death (murdering and jailing), into a way of life (forgiving and healing).

God created all things.  I like how Paul mentions this here.  Mystery revealed often exposes the existance of deep conflict.  We've attested to that even now by seeing the stark contrasts in Paul's life and between Jew and Gentile.  Take also the example of marriage in Ephesians 5:31 and 32.  How can two fully opposite persons, male and female, (to name but one opposition!), become one?  We see it occuring in two ways:  1) sexually and 2) in their children.  "Unity" in any of these cases is something of a miracle.  But God not only unites, He also created the diverseness which needs uniting.  God created "all things."  Mentioning this at the close of the verse shows us that God loves mystery and all its very contrastive parts as much as He loves revealing it and unifying the world in it.  He creates mystery, He creates its unfolding--He creates "all things"!

Prayer:  Father, Your sovereign control, as exemplified in the timely revealing of the mystery of the gospel, makes me feel SO SECURE!  Thank You, Father!  Amen.

General | Next | Previous | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Comments

Add comment
 
Accessible and Valid XHTML 1.0 Strict and CSS
Powered by LifeType - Design by BalearWeb - Hosted by New Technologies.